Episode 21 – hudba!

Hey there peckish fans,

Here’s a list of all the music used in the Slovak Snack podcasts.

I chose the songs either on their relevance to the podcast, or due to the fact that the artist is well-known in Slovakia, or mainly because the music is great.

I really hope this selection acts as a gateway for you the listener, to finding out more about the artists and about Slovak music in general. Do have a listen to their other songs.

Episode (actual links are in each episode post):

1. Slnečná balada – Peha
2. Brďokoky – Horkýže slíže
3. Kráľovna bielych tenisiek – Elán
4. Zvoňte zvonky – Prúdy
5. Jaj, ty k*kot! – Lou Fanánek Hagen (Czech)
6. Goro biely pes – Hudba z marsu
7. Ľudia nie sú zlí – IMT Smile
8. Zabudni – Dramatikz
9. Keby si bol môj – Jana Kirschner
10. Len tak – Sue

11. Tak si to uži – Začiatok konca
12. 22 dní – Miro Žbirka
13. Komplikovaná – Polemic
14. Príbeh – Dežo Ursiny
15. Cigaretka na dva ťahy – Richard Müller
16. Ticho má hlas – Komajota
17. Môj bože – Katarína Knechtová
18. Profesor Indigo – Peter Nagy
19. Tvoj sneh – Collegium Musicum
20. Tajné milovanie – Silvayovci feat. Tomáš Buranovský

The backing music was provided by local Skalican artist Marek (RA90901). Hesmyf*ckingbrotha!

If you’re still hungry, Wikipedia also offers a list of modern Slovak music:

Wikipedia.org – Slovak Popular Music

Plus there’s a list of the Best 100 Slovak albums (100 najlepších slovenských albumov), which was published in 2007 by Čas.sk:

Exkluzívny rebríček: 100 najlepších slovenských albumov

A version in English is on Wikipedia:

Wikipedia.org – The 100 Greatest Slovak Albums of All Time

Stay tuned…

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Episode 20 – dovidenia

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David is leaving Slovakia! Saša is sad. Is this the last Snack we’ll ever enjoy? It’s all in the word dovidenia…

Grammar tip: dovidenia is 2nd case (do videnia), and sbohom is 7th case (s bohom). Although these are fixed phrases, it’s still interesting to know the mechanics. 🙂

Slovak uses vykanie (formal/plural you, literally “you-ing”) and tykanie (informal/singular you, literally “thou-ing”) when talking to others. You normally start with vykanie until given permission – yes, verbal permission!* – to use tykanie. Using tykanie without approval is being too familiar and comes across as simply rude. The other side of the coin is that once you use tykanie with someone, you (almost) never go back to vykanie: that would be like saying “I don’t know you anymore.” Using vykanie with family members is tantamount to disowning them.

*and no, you can’t simply ask. It’s a little more complex than that.

Erratum: David has clearly picked up a Záhorácky accent and is pronouncing the de and ni in dovidenia as hard, when in proper Slovak they should be softer and palatal (ď/ň). Daj pozor, Dave!

Song: Tajné milovanie (Secret Lovemaking) by Silvayovci feat. Tomáš Buranovský

We decided to offer you a special song: a Slovak singer (Buranovský) collaborating with a trad-mod Slovak group (Silvayovci) doing a cover by a Slovak band (IMT smile). Triple whammy? Even better: Richard Müller wrote the lyrics.

Bonus music!!

Silvayovci – Children of the Sandstorm (cover)
www.silvayovci.sk

Tomáš Buranovský – Blízko Cieľa (Near the Goal)
www.tomasburanovsky.com

IMT Smile – Tajné milovanie (original version)

Richard Müller singing Tajné milovanie (live)

Backing music by RA90901

Dovidenia…

Episode 19, v pohode

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It’s summer and school’s out! Saša and David agree that everything now is v pohode.

Pronunciation tip: the v becomes an f sound because the following sound (p) is unvoiced. Although written Slovak is generally phonetic, consonants will become voiced or unvoiced in speech, depending on the other consonants which precede or follow.

A voiced consonant (b/d/g/h/z) at the end of a word is unvoiced when spoken. eg. hrob (grave) = “hrop”, zahrad (garden) = “zahrat”, mozog (brain) = “mozok”, sneh (snow) = “snech”, and teraz (now) = “teras”.

Details about the Pohoda festival can be found here! www.pohodafestival.sk

Song: Tvoj sneh (Your Snow) by Collegium Musicum
www.collegiummusicum.sk

Backing music by RA90901

Episode 18 – Pády

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It’s pády time!!

Saša and David tackle the monstrous hydra that is Slovak declension. Its not that scary, really… just pay a bit of attention and you’ll live.

By this podcast, we offer you a mouthful of the tastiest language in central Europe.
= Týmto podcastom vám ponukneme sústo toho najchuťnejšieho jazyka v strednej Europe.

A recap on the cases (pády), in order of appearance…

Siedmy pád (7th case) – the agent by which something is done. Without a preposition, it suggests “by” (eg. arrive by plane: prisť lietadlom). It also follows certain prepositions such as s (with), pred (before/next to), nad (above), pod (under) and za (behind).

Tretí pád (3rd case) – the indirect object; also used for directions which are not destinations, eg. k Bratislave – toward Bratislava, but not “to Bratislava” (where you need druhý pád: do Bratislavy)

Štvrtý pád (4th case) – the direct object which receives the action.

Druhý pád (2nd case) – the possessive which suggests “of” by itself, but also used for destinations (with do) or origins/causes (od/z). The pattern is learnt with the preposition bez (without).

Šiesty pád (6th case) – a location (where), and learnt with the preposition o (about). “A story about David” is Príbeh o Davidovi.

Prvý pád (1st case) – the subject, and also the form you’ll find in a dictionary. It’s only included in the sentence if the verb has the “it” or “they” conjugation. In other cases, the performer of the action (I, you, we) is already clear, thanks to the verb form. You would add ja/ty/my/vy only for emphasis.

Piaty pád (5th case) – direct address. This is only found in old forms of Slovak as it mostly corresponds with prvý pád, and is considered almost obselete in modern Slovak, with rare exceptions.

You can find more details on the Slovak declensions here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovak_declension

Basically, the only way to comprehend this properly is to make use of it. Just follow the patterns (vzory).

To show how an example word can change:

1.pád (nominatív) – podcast 
2.pád (genitív) – podcastu (this follows the dub pattern, which can be either -a or -u) 
3.pád (datív) – podcastu 
4.pád (akuzatív) – podcast 
5.pád (vokatív) – podcast 
6.pád (lokál) – podcaste 
7.pád (inštrumentál) – podcastom

If we write a nonsensical sentence using the same word – “by this podcast, we offer the podcast a podcast of the tastiest podcast in central podcasts” – it becomes:

Týmto podcastom(7) / podcastu(3) / ponukneme podcast(4) / toho najchuťnejšieho podcastu(2) / v stredných podcastoch(6, plural).

Although this may look a little confusing at first, the endings of the words (plus order, nearby determiners and adjectives) make the relationship between the nouns very, very clear.

Song: Profesor Indigo by Peter Nagy
www.peternagy.sk

Backing music by RA90901

Episode 17 …ježišmaria!

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Saša and David spend the whole podcast taking the Lords Name in vain, and discuss religion in modern Slovakia.

Phrases:
Ježišmaria/Žišmaria! – Jesus and Mary!
Kriste pane! – Lord Christ!
Bože môj! – My God!

There’s no real “grammar rule” for these expressions, but interestingly Bože môj and Kriste pane both use the (old and nigh-obsolete) piaty pád/vokatív form, for direct address.

Song: Môj bože (My God) by Katarína Knechtová
www.katarinaknechtova.com

Backing music by RA90901

Episode 16 – buď ticho!

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Saša and David give you a wealth of phrases when someone is getting papuľnatý (mouthy), and you just want to tell them to SHUT UP.

Polite:
Ticho, prosím – Quiet, please
Nevyrušuj(te) – Do not disturb

Direct:
Buď ticho! – Be quiet! (In Profesionáli: Šaňo, ty buď ticho! Ty si debil! – Shut up! You are an idiot!)
Pšt! – Shh!

Very direct/colloquial:
Zavri / Drž hubu! – Shut / Hold your gob!
Zavri si chlebareň / klapačku / klapajzňu / piraňu! – Shut your breadbox / little clapper / stupid little clapper / piranha!
Zklapni! – shut it!

Grammar tips:

The direct and colloquial forms all use the imperative form of the verb… of course.

You can use a diminutive form derisively in Slovak, with the meaning of “stupid little…”, by adding -zňa to the end, instead of -ka. In our examples, because the noun is a direct object (štvrtý pád), -zňa becomes -zňu.

Speech is sliver, silence is golden:
Hovoriť striebro, mlčať zlato (Slovak)
Mluviti stříbro, mlčeti zlato (Czech)

Song: Ticho má hlas (Silence Has a Voice) by Komajota
www.komajota.sk

Backing music by RA90901

Episode 15 – ukľudni sa

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Saša tells David to CALM DOWN. Then she yells at a dog.

Grammar tip:

The reflexive sa is needed as the object of the action: calm (yourself) down. Without it, we have no idea what or who should be calmed down.

Expressions:

Nič sa neje také horúce, ako sa navarí – Nothing is as hot as it was cooked.

Nič nie je také zlé ako sa zdá – Nothing is as bad as it seems.

Song: Cigaretka na dva ťahy (A Cigarette in Two Puffs) by Richard Müller
richard.muller.sk

Stressed? Throw on some work by Mr Müller and ukludni sa.

Backing music by RA90901

Episode 14 – ahoj!

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Saša, better known as The Dread Pirate Queen, and David talk about various greetings in Slovak. Alexander Graham Bell gets a mention, somehow.

Pronunciation tip:

This common word still needs the stress on the first (short) syllable, even though the second syllable is longer:

a-hoj.

The common farewell/greeting “ciao” is written in Slovak as čau.

Song: Príbeh (A Story) by Dežo Ursiny
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dežo_Ursiny

Backing music by RA90901

Episode 13 – čoro moro! čoro moro!

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Saša and David present a complete čoro moro of a podcast! David drinks too much slivovičku and loses his ticket for his train of thought. Meanwhile, Saša gets to witness some “typically Slovak” gestures. All through this, they talk about sex. You, dear listener, get to seive messages.

The link to a (modern) example of  čoro moro, with gestures, can be found here:

http://hlasky.huste.tv/frantisek-boborovsky/coro-moro-alebo-normalne-rande-14.html

Profesionáli can be watched here:

http://profesionali.joj.sk/profesionali-epizody.html

Song: Komplikovaná (Complicated) by Polemic
www.polemic.sk

Backing music by RA90901

Episode 12 – prosím

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Saša and David tackle the ubiquitous Slovak word, prosím.

Here’s the “translated” dialogue from the beginning of the podcast…

David: Prosím (Excuse me) Saši, can you show me the notes, prosím (please)?
Saša: Prosím (Here you are).
David: Prosím (Sorry? ie. I didn’t hear properly)?
Saša : Prosím (Here you ARE).
David: Prosím (Come again)??
Saša : Ach, prosím ťa (Oh come on, ie. stop being silly)!

Extra phrases:

Prosím (si) ešte pivečko/kávu – Please, another bevvy[beer]/coffee.
Prosím, gate si nosím – You’re welcome, I’m wearing pants.

Remember, the thing asked for takes štvrtý pád (akuzatív) form!

Song: 22 dní (Twenty-Two Days) by Miro Žbirka
www.zbirka.cz

Trivia: before the Tender (Velvet) Revolution, “western” pop songs were typically translated and re-released in Czech or Slovak, as original recordings were not allowed past the border. Recognize this one… prosím.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bh1ZV8-w1Y

Backing music by RA90901